George Steinbrenner

Born: 1930-07-04 - Died: 2010-07-13Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Death Summary: Steinbrenner had a heart attack and was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Florida. He died at 6:30 AM.

Who was
George Steinbrenner : George Steinbrenner will go down in the history books as one of the most famous, and winningest owners in Major League Baseball history. Steinbrenner was born in Rocky River, Ohio, the son of Rita and Henry Steinbrenner II.

Steinbrenner's sports origins actually begin with football, and basketball. During college, he played halfback for Williams College in Massachusetts. His first sports ownership gig would come in 1960, when he purchased the basketball franchise - Cleveland Pipers. It was an ABL team, who hired the first ever African American coach in professional basketball history.

After the failing of the ABL, Steinbrenner began investing in Broadway shows. He would continue doing so until the late 80's. His New York Yankee ownership story began in 1972. At the time, the Yankees were owned by CBS. The team was struggling, and CBS was looking to sell the franchise.

Steinbrenner had attempted to purchase the Cleveland Indians prior to the Yankees, but had failed to close the deal. Grouping with a few investors, Steinbrenner was able to purchase the Yankees for the sum of $8.8 million.

Steinbrenner became famous throughout the years for his "do anything to win" attitude. That meant pursuing extremely high-priced free agents, and changing managers frequently. He was infamous for clashing with managers, players, and bringing the drama public through high intensity press conferences.

Steinbrenner's larger than life character would become lampooned in various pieces of entertainment. From Saturday Night Live, to the Simpsons. The most famous Steinbrenner parody would come on the show Seinfeld. Larry David, co-creator of the show would do the voice work for the character. Steinbrenner would eventually appear on the show, in the finale episode. His scenes were cut, due to the episode running over time.

Through the controversy, Steinbrenner amassed 11 pennants and 7 World Series titles. Later in his career, Steinbrenner became less boisterous and left the day-to-day aspects of baseball to the executives.

George Steinbrenner is survived by his long time wife, Elizabeth. And children, Hank, Hal, Jessica, and Jennifer.